Beignets and more in New Orleans

It's not a good idea to visit New Orleans right before Thanksgiving. It's going to be hard getting rid of the extra weight I put on during a long weekend in "The Big Easy." And now more of a food onslaught is in store with the holiday approaching.
But it was worth it. Here is a sampling of some of the temptations I ate during our short stay.
The photo was taken at "Emeril's," the eponymous restaurant named after Emeril Lagasse, whose cooking show can be seen on the Food Network. The pork chop was about two inches thick and smothered in a tamarind glaze and green mole sauce, and served with caramelized sweet potatoes. What a winning and unexpected combination of flavors. Thank you Emeril for that taste experience and also for the recipe, which is posted on the Food Network's website. It's a little involved, but in case you want to try it, here's the link.
We also ate at "August," one of John Besh's restaurants. For those of you who watch the Food Network, you may remember that Besh won the Iron Chef competition against Mario Batali. "August" is an elegant, but not stuffy restaurant, with a more refined and subtle menu than "Emeril's." To give you an idea, we started with an amuse bouche of fish mousse, served in a small egg shell. The meal continued on a high note, including a salad of organic greens with pumpkin seed brittle, blue cheese and pumpkin seed oil vinaigrette. It's a nice contrast of textures and tastes, and one I plan to make in the future for dinner parties. Since I haven't made it myself yet, I'll give you a link to a pumpkin nut brittle recipe on Epicurious.com.

I can't talk about New Orleans food without mentioning beignets - those square-shaped puffy fried "doughnuts" that are a must when visiting the city. The most well-known place to eat them is the Cafe Du Monde, where this photo was taken. They are typically served with Cafe Du Monde's version of cafe au lait, a blend of chicory and coffee. The beignets arrive covered with a blizzard of powdered sugar, so be careful if you're wearing black slacks as I was!! One bite and you'll become enamored of the traditional New Orleans favorite. They sell a beignet mix at the Cafe Du Monde and online, and there are plenty of recipes on the web as well. Most of the authors claim that the mix isn't as good as the homemade recipe, which includes yeast. Here's the link to a recipe from a website that's all about NOLA (New Orleans) food: